Es AG-Wednesday, June 25, 1980 - North Shore News editorial page Nation building Prime Minister Trudeau's drive to com- plete a new constitution for Canada within the next 12 months should not blind patriotic Canadians of whatever racial origin to the realities of the immediate situation. Ottawa and Alberta continue to be at each others’ throats over oil pricing. B.C. and Alberta are preparing to fight tooth and nail against a suggested federal tax on resource exports. Premier Brian Peckford rambles mutiny in Newfoundland, while Premier Rene Levesque sulks in Quebec. The agreement on principles which Mr. Trudeau has demanded for the federal-provincial meeting in September presently looks a lot farther away than a mere two and a half months. Many of the motives behind the hustle appear to be political rather than patriotic. Mr. Tradeau himself is in a hurry to retire with a new constitution as his monument. Meanwhile, the Liberals are sharply aware that Quebec delivers over half their seats in Parliament. The clash with Alberta stems from a rash Liberal election pledge to un- dercat the. former Tory government on ofl prices. There's plenty of evidence this Canada Week that ordinary Canadians from coast to coast, including a majority in Quebec, love their country and want it to stay together. The more they mingle and visit with each other — as the young people in particular are increasingly doing — the stronger our unity will become, despite the politicians. “Big stick” deadlines, confrontation and political opportunism from on high are NOT the way a nation is built. Freedom flag Fourteen New Westminster phone operators were suspended recently for visiting the restroom without asking their supervisor. But now B.C. Tel has run a better idea up the mast. Provided an operator posts a little green flag at the assistant chiel operator’s desk — and provided no one else has got there first with a flag — she need no longer actually check with the boss before answering nature's call. Yes, John. This IS the year 1980. sunday news north shore news NEWS ADVERTISING CLASSIFIED CIRCULATION 085-2131 980-0511 086-6222 986-1337 Publishe: Peter Gpec bh 1190 bonsdale Ave North Vance Ouver 1 C. VIM 244 (604) 985-2131 Associate Publisher Editor-in-Chiot Advertising Director Robern Graham Noo! Wright fre Cardwell Ctasattied Manager Production & Office Adminiatr ator Varese Foe carve ass Born Hilhard baye Me Cra Managing Editor News Editor Photography Andy fraser C.eis tloyd t Bawortth Onc hoc Accounting Supervisor Barbars Koon North Shore News founded e VUGtH an ar micepremdort fr One ay ty cewngpapee and nailified under Sa hercdute Ih tart Ub bee ayrape thot the tacioe Tas Act ts gubtinhed each Wounenday and ‘hamainy ty Noth Girone freo trans (id and fintritited te. every orn oe Whe Narth “Sone Second CAaana Mat Heyintiates Nuniten severe Ssitome ciptiann $20) poor yor Fete con borte DESC Reer th aber en free Prena itd All ights rese ved Re Somgernsbalty MC EPH Od tow ae rh ee hese cant Cee eee rvecereceree FIPPTN anced ogre ter en atte t mabye et tae 7 beens ty starrer) aletrasmed ot tar Ores vetteng re VER HG CTA TOON 60,870 49.913 Wodnendny Goa SIX THIS PAPER 1S REC YCIL ABLE “maindnay OTTAWA (SF) - Energy Minister Marc Lalonde's most important speech since he assumed that portfolio came on the eve of the voting for the Quebec referendum. He offered a goal for Canada that on the surface seems almost im- possible to meet. Lalonde said that by 1990, Canada would have reduced the home heating, industrial and commercial use of oil from 45 per cent of the energy package to 10 per cent. Now that package does not include petroleum products used for tran- sportation — planes, cars, trucks, ships and trains. Still, it will involve a massive shift into the use of natural gas and massjve spending on pipelines to put in place a Quebec-Maritime distribut- ion system. It also means that Canadian natural gas exports to the U_S. will have to be reduced, because the rule of the National Energy Board — assuring Canadian — priorities hurt West Canadian Comment BY PETER WARD supplies for the future — will now ,have to take into ac- count greatly expanded Canadian use of natural gas. The natural gas price for export is considerably higher than the domestic price, hence the producing provinces and the gas companies will have to take less for their natural gas. Lalonde will perhaps have to make his planning more balanced if he wants the provinces and the companies to go along. Another aspect of Lalonde’s big energy speech had to do with massive spending for the upgrading of refineries in Ontario and Quebec. Present operations in Sarnia and Montreal skim the gasoline and oil from crude oil leaving a huge surplus of heavy fuel oil. Much of the surplus is exported to the refinery - U.S. as industrial fuel, but the heavy oil price in Eastern Canada is low because of the surplus. The refinery upgrading will make it possible to convert much more of that heavy oil into gasoline and diesel, ending the surplus situation, and saving Canada something in the order of 100,000 barrels a day. That's quite a bit, but is it the maximum saving for the money to be expanded? Canada currently exports 220,000 barrels of heavy crude oil daily from Saskatchewan to the U:S., because our refineries can't handle the Saskatchewan heavy grade of crude. Lalonde says the differing qualities of the Saskat- chewan crude make it: difficult to set up Canadian refineries to handle it. Is he sure that the priorities — spending for refineries in Ontario and Quebec instead of in Saskatchewan — didn't have more to do with the federal decision than he is City hall ‘welfare bums’ The tax protesters’ meeting slated for tomorrow night (Thursday, June 26) at 8 p.m. in West Vancouver Secondary School may seem a far cry from current federal-provincial negotiations on the reform of the Canadian constitution. In fact, however, it’s not nearly such a far cry as you might think. Nor does one of the basic issucs for discussion involve the taxpayers of Tiddlycove alone. Potentially, its an issuc =o affecting property owners in every Canadian municipality But lets begin at the beginning. West Van property taxcs are up this year — _ the municipal portion of the tax bill by an average of almost 11 per cent, the school costs portion by around 13° per cent. That's quite a jolt in itself, but in a number of casos the jot has been cven harder The “average” increases quoted presuppuse that the assessment on your home — which ts set by the provincial government — remained more or less the same as last year In numerous instances, however, soaring real cstate prices led to a jump in the assessments As a result, more than a few West Van homeowners found. to their horror, that the bottom line on their £980 tax bill wasn't just 11 13 per cent higher than last ycar. but anywhere from 16 to 22 per cent higher PENNY PINCHING, ht may be ake to now that West Van home and castle has increased in vatue by the centage But immediately your fame |= pcr foyoure oot Proposing to acl the place and retreat toa country csatate in the C artboo with the proceeds that ino t Kotng to case the pain of magoing the cheque duc by July 3 All hands of reasons are advanced, of course. for even an |1-13 per cent tax hike this ycar in West Van. Homeowners surveyed at the start of the year by a questionnaire sent (o every houscholder said they didn't want any cutback in municipal services. Inflation has been running al over nine per cent. And a further significant factor, says harrassed municipal! and school board officials, has been a new bout of penny pinching by the provincial government Victoria provides a variable chunk of the moncy necded (to balance local government budgets under various cost sharing programs But that chunk, especially in the case of West Van Schoo! Board, is being steadily pared down This ycar, for exampic, the provincial contribution to West Van school costs is only 13.5 per cent — down from almost 19 per cent in 1979 Ten years ago the province was picking up over 34 per cent of the West Van schools tab GREATER CONTROL! Again ino mun tpalitics bhhe West Van which prefer thes own police depan ment the full cost of poheing ts borne by local taapoyers * white Muniwipalities hiring the ROMP for the yob get ap proximately JO per cont paid West in capedted by sentor governments Van moreover to pole Ube proving tally owned Upper levels Highway ( ypresas Bow! Park by Noel Wright and the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal withoul receiving a centin return from Victoria. Similar anomalics un doubtedly exist in aumcrous other municipalities, which brings us to the point al which we started should muanictpalitics — ander a revised Canadian = = con- stitatdion — he given mach greater control over their own financial destiny? Some 57 per cent. of Canadians today live in 23 metropolitan arcas with populations of 100,000) or more Yet with few ca cepttons the only form of tanation permitted to Chose municipalities 16 the property tas All the lucrative forms of tan revenue income lan tesource tan, sales tna, hhquor tax, gasoline tar grabbed by provincial goverame nt which naturally uses that revenue first and foremerst to promote is own greatcr Klory the drantatic sinft) oof populaton to the cites over ate the the past three decades has imposed on urban municipalities a need for vastly expanded services to their citizens at the local level. But they continue to be denied the adequate share of overall provincial tax money required to mect those commitments. So a mounting burden falls on the hapless property-owner FAIR SHARE The obvious solution (except, no doubt, to Victoria and tts counterparts across Canada) 1s to transfcr an cquitable percentage of all provincial tax revenuc to the municipalitics as a right -— in the same way as Ottawa splits income tax revenuc with the provinces on a fixed basis Every municipality, ac cording to tts size, could then depend on its fair share of provincial income tan, resource tax, sales tax, liquor tax and the like, instead of waiting cach ycar liko a beggar with a bowl for whatever grudging charity the province deigns to bestow That right would have to be written into Canada's revised constitution. Given Primc Minister Trudcau's crash program, the sooncr municipal teadcrs start dcmanding it at the top of their lungs, the better The chance won't come again for a long time In the cond. one there's) only taxpayer to feed all three levels of government Meanwhile, he ¢apects cver increasing scrvices from the urban mumcipabbtes where nowadays he predominantly lives he now aeceds more of bis total tan dollars In short. to be apent closer to home without his local counacd and school board being treated as welfare bums